Jazz Articles

Our daily articles are carefully curated by the All About Jazz staff. You can find more articles by searching our website, see what's trending on our popular articles page or read articles ahead of their published dates on our Coming Soon page. Read our daily album reviews.

Book Review

Transcendent Trombone - Jazz Survivor: The Rick Stepton Story

by Nicholas F. Mondello
January 29, 2017

Transcendent Trombone Frank McGowan Self Published 2017 “Jazz Luck"--a phrase I pull out of the hat every so often that aptly describes those oddball and, in some cases, unfortunate events which practitioners of the art encounter in the business. It's a more apropos term that the commonly-used “Stuff Happens," because in more cases than not a jazz musician's journey can be fraught with the truly unexplainable, the oddball, and the weirdly aleatoric. I've occasionally ...

Album Review

John Abercrombie Quartet: Up and Coming

Read "Up and Coming" reviewed by Matthew Aquiline

by Matthew Aquiline
January 29, 2017

Guitarist John Abercrombie has long been a stalwart artist for Manfred Eicher's ECM Records, steadily releasing albums as a leader since 1975's fusion masterpiece Timeless (ECM). A true guitar virtuoso, Abercrombie's adaptability and dexterous command over his instrument have secured his exalted rank within the jazz realm and beyond. Now, over 40 years after his debut, Abercrombie's inventiveness shows no signs of diminishing as he has kicked off 2017 with a new album for ECM, Up and Coming.

Album Review

Charles Lloyd & The Marvels with Lucinda Williams: Masters Of War

Read "Masters Of War" reviewed by Dan Bilawsky

by Dan Bilawsky
January 29, 2017

Plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose (The more things change, the more they stay the same) --Jean-Baptiste Alphonse KarrMore than half a century has come and gone since Bob Dylan penned “Masters of War," yet the song's message remains as relevant as ever. On January 20, 2017--the very day that Donald Trump took the Oath of Office and became the 45th President of the United States of America--saxophonist Charles Lloyd joined a rapidly growing chorus of ...

Live Review

Ian Shaw With The Phil Ware Trio at The Workmans Club

by Ian Patterson
January 28, 2017

Ian Shaw With The Phil Ware Trio The Workmans Club Dublin, Ireland January 21, 2017 A full house at The Workmans Club for Ian Shaw with the Phil Ware Trio was a heartening sight. Anything less, however, would have been disappointing, for Shaw is rightly considered by many as one of the greatest male jazz vocalists of this or possibly any other era. If he couldn't draw a decent crowd then jazz would really ...

Album Review

Emmet Cohen Featuring Jimmy Cobb: Masters Legacy Series, Volume 1

Read "Masters Legacy Series, Volume 1" reviewed by Dan McClenaghan

by Dan McClenaghan
January 28, 2017

Pianist Emmet Cohen aims to honor the jazz masters. He starts with drummer Jimmy Cobb, on the Masters Legacy Series, Volume 1, a mostly piano trio affair featuring Cobb himself in the the drummer's chair. Cobb is best known for his participation in one of the jazz world's most famous recording, Miles Davis' Kind Of Blue (Columbia Records, 1959). He also played on Davis Someday My Prince will Come (1961), Sketches Of Spain (1960), Porgy And Bess, 1959), ...

Album Review

LiveHuman: ScratchBop

Read "ScratchBop" reviewed by Mark F. Turner

by Mark F. Turner
January 28, 2017

DJ turntablism and jazz may seem like strange bed-fellows but have often found a creative bond in live events and recordings. For many years, musicians on both sides of the equation have blended instrumental performances with the skill of scratching vinyl / DJ mixing such as Herbie Hancock's Rockit (Columbia, 1983) and Chillin' in Batumi (Exitus, 2013) with pianist Beka Gochiashvili and DJ Logic. Recorded live at San Francisco's Tin Castle, the jazz/hip hop trio called Livehuman--DJ Quest (Carlos Aguilar), ...

Album Review

Daniel Herskedal: The Roc

by Roger Farbey
January 28, 2017

The Roc is Norwegian tuba player Daniel Herskedal's follow-up album to his 2015 recording for Edition Records, Slow Eastbound Train which like its predecessor again features Eydolf Dale on piano and Helge Andreas Norbakken on percussion. However, that record also benefitted from the massive Trondheim Soloists chamber string orchestra. A pastoral beginning with “The Seeds Of Language" belies the nature of the ensuing tracks, things taking a more overtly oriental turn on the title track and beyond. Specifically, ...

Album Review

Delbert McClinton: Prick of the Litter

Read "Prick of the Litter" reviewed by Doug Collette

by Doug Collette
January 28, 2017

Texas-born Delbert McClinton is one of America's great natural resources. And that three-time Grammy Award-winning reputation is based on more than just his nurturing of John Lennon's interest in the harmonica back in the early '60s when McClinton, as part of the duo Delbert and Glen, were touring with The Beatles. A string of more than nineteen handsomely wrought albums melding, blues, country, soul and jazz is the real foundation of Delbert's reputation and Prick of the Litter adds substantial ...

Album Review

Delbert McClinton and the Self Made Men: Prick of the Litter

Read "Prick of the Litter" reviewed by C. Michael Bailey

by C. Michael Bailey
January 28, 2017

Delbert McClinton is from Lubbock, by way of Fort Worth Texas. I don't suspect that anyone would accuse Texas of being a “Soul" capital of anything. Isn't that Memphis, Muscle Shoals, Detroit, and Philadelphia? How can we account for who may possibly be the best white soul singer? Beginning in 1972, partnering with singer Glen Clark, McClinton began constructing his Texas brand of soul-blues. He wrote “Two More Bottles of Wine," “B-Movie Boxcar Blues, and “Every Time I Roll the ...

Interview

The Wee Trio: Full of Surprises

by Geno Thackara
January 27, 2017

Don't be fooled by the name. The members of the Wee Trio are normal-looking and normal-sized guys, their ambition if anything is deluxe, and their compositional scope virtually limitless. While such a moniker can only keep them humble--not that they'd seem to need the help--they've always kept an outsized willingness to follow fascinating ideas and embrace the unexpected. Picture Al Pacino's sneaky lawyer in The Devil's Advocate explaining his unassuming appearance: “I'm the little guy. They don't see me comin.'" ...